D&d5.5 for a year some thots ive been thunking

Chose the Goblinco/dungeon degenerates Lowlife rpg as my current KS based on Hand of Doom board game. Its grimier, weirder and punker than every other game.

So i played bx then ad&d hybrid then 2nd ed up to later brown books that lazier), then played RQ/BRP for 20 years. Whe i got back into it, I remembered basic d&d had small statblocks so wrote my EMO retro clone based on bx and ad&d85. I was aware of 3rd ed from the Temple of elemental evil pc game that also got me into d&d again. I joined a club and played some 4th ed and mostly BRP and my homebrew. I didnt play 5thg ed till i got back to adelaide and i didnt own books and players not being very technical. I started getting D&D5 with the Theros book and some others just to read. I got more than on sale fot 30, 50 or 70% off over the end of 2014. Inpart the new Dyson style maps that didnt look like video game walkthroughs was a plus. Modern AI made decades of bad digital art seem more repulsive now.

The main reason i got into 5th ed was the 2024 Players book had a readable index page, the older one was unreadable last 5 years. The new one is better laid out and i mostly prefer it. They were first wizard products and new items id bought since 91.

The old DMG I thought would be passed on, but it has lots of content still handy.
The older PHB book maybe i will check some subclasses not in current version but more fot the other older books to help make sense of them. But not for its own sake. Maybe ill play in someone elses game with 2014 rules.


I still think they need a fighting fantasy level complexity version with less choices and more roleplay anyone could play quickly and a stodgy tactical combat version with the works. A version with simple fun abilities and less record keeping for more story games or less violent games.

Complexity
Starting play at 1st lv is best. Joining a game later is bewildering. Advancement is better off slow so you enjoy your abilities and learn to use them rather than the rush growth in adventure books. Ive not used xp in any d&d akin games since recent OSE game online. As we go higher, we have more resources to track. Your choices of abilities get huge. More game time is spent checking rules. Sometimes ppl read rules by cherry picking only the beneficial parts. I watched a high-level wizard battle and it took hours. I think dice discipline is underrated. When i see people fuck around with dice for minutes to roll one number its pretty annoying. Everyone wants dumber maths in games now. People dont want to count food or arrows but lots of abilities with 1-3 uses and different recovery times is fine?

Tonight I ran a premade adventure and it was well-written enough to finish core on time. Players will be cleaning up the dungeon and helping decorate the dragons dungeon next game. A new player joining in a Lv3 game was pretty bewildering and probably a bit bored watching us look up books and check rules. Learning from lv would be better. Maybe let them start lv 1 and a second lv at end of the session and later until they reach party average, just to help learn. A barbarian the same lv as fighter seemed far more superhuman and damage-dealing.

One of my other games i think ppl like complex cool character abilities but disliked combat and made poorer use of bonus actions, opportunity attacks and specific grids in combat. Im hoping will use updated rules.

Im glad I'm running game now with less splatbooks in use so nope to most fan gear ppl have tried. I'm glad a magic book is coming; they need a cleric book too - these books would add to settings and play too. Funny, they are putting Insmouth into Ravenloft - my players said I don't need it. All my villages are folk horror as i grew up in the country. My current setting is a Ravenloft domain, so the new book is of interest. Im not sure if Forgotten Realms books interest me but the players one has dropped in price. 

I sometimes use old and new monster books as both have some good features. Like orcs and lizard folk in the older version. Modern sphynx seem more like my little pony. Lamia less horrid and less baby-eating vampires. They even had a good lamia in a scenario. Bad guys need to do bad things to be acceptable foes. I dont mind more neutral dragons, especially the non-talking ones. Its ok if more monsters are human or even appealing. Sphinxes not being crazy maneaters is a bit sad. The weird gender stuff of these sphynxes was European Renaissance not ancient, I don't miss this. Now we have sphynxes, nothing like any in mythology. Perhaps a sphynx generator like the chimaera generator in Theros might work. Connecting lots of monsters and demons is a bit tedious. Im more a monsters are the bitter venom of the gods kind of guy. Id like more unique monster generators. The bigby book has lots of weird giant varients ive enjoyed using.

D&D movie had mostly humans and some weirdos. Many modern adventures have way too many weird people. I'm for diversity, but if everyone is a furry like all my 2014 rule games its no longer special. I find a assimar with awesome powers running a pub and needing help seems a bit lame. One adventure mentions an npc has blue skin, but not much on why. I'm fine with humans being common.

When the game works smoothly, it is fun. Players seem to enjoy bosses with weird abilities. A few think stuff like "how can I stick on that monster's arm on me and get that power" even though it's really just cosmetic fluff. I must look up that artificer who makes fleshy golems. A weird location makes a fight more dynamic. As we are in the age of 6-room dungeons, this kind of makes every dungeon room significant vs empty time syncs that tempt you to risk wandering monsters. I still say my homebrew is much faster and has in-table comparisons, had 10x rooms in a session to other tables.

I think you do get to have fun "building" characters and get lots of interesting abilities you can min max with and that is an element of the game for some people that matters the most. I do find that these players can be competitive and monitor other players' lots. This plethora of choices also creates lots of problems, like time and entry difficulty. I will possibly use OSE as my con game and travel game of choice.

I have got better at using monsters and keeping players thrilled.
Combat can be entertaining with a novel monster ability and a dynamic combat environment like a trap filled room or lava. You can see when a fight is rewarding, and you can make the things that work better. Using obscure stat blocks seems to be more exiting than bog-standard ones. Im saddened the DM npcs and PCs no longer really built the same. Stat blocks they give easier to run but just not built like players. MU6 was enough to a npc once but not now. Its a good solution but i think they need a book of human and monster species and class npcs. The decision to give outrageous stats for entertainers was terrible (they should just rob a dungeon and give up on earning a few cp). Id rather most ppl have no level or class in a world. We got lots of generic bandits and pirates and told to use for orcs and basic lizard folk. Im still using my 2014 MM often but modern ghouls are better.

Most of my time in 2014 i didnt even know most of my abilities or action economy. Most DMs railroaded character design - dont be human - dont take that subclass - do this. I had more fun when i ignored dm advice and made characters i want. Im fine with limiting content outside core books. Ive only seen a fraction of character content and monsters in play so certainly lots of resources. Im still considering im learning really but doing better. Having a good rule pedant at table is great! Evil pedants out to compete and cheat by omission when it suits them are not wonderful.

This meme seemed relevant

none of these are deal breakers
1 Yes but.....is better than no but its not just no with extra steps
2 Balance sucks
-Comparing Monster HD with players is fine to start add extra HD for magical abilities and side on caution. Every fight isnt just a cool boss fight some are to drain player resources
-Telegraph danger, make fights more dynamic and feel risky and novel
-Have escape options for players and dont overuse npcs saving them
3 I'm fine with sandbox
-That includes lots of choices, not no choices
-Good settings and tables, and you have lots of stuff to do

4 A variant of 1 - look at options and ideas, and what other DMs do rather than ban rules -In-game setting reasons to say no work better
-A cult did multiclassing so nobody does anymore, only the wicked do it
-RQ does this all the time - sure do it, but you're a hated heretic and need to hide it 
-Want more human characters? Make humans common with local connections and anything else exotic freaks who probably need locals to speak out for them

Give local humans social edges like guilds, clans etc and make players wanting exotic weirdos aware they will likely be disadvantaged socially and status-wise. You dont have to be shitty and mean about. Players might be able to become popular and improve their kind's image. I'd equally apply this to players who wanted to be an albino cannibal from the hollow earth or someone who was raised by a faerie. The problem treatment is the bad behaviour of npcs not the player character or player. Let players break these restrictions with effort. Also the benefits of local clan can include obligations and reputations the stranger does not have.  Its just a sample of trying to make your DM preferred content to be used within world preferences im sure you could come up with something not a form of prejudice.

In the game RUS, you could not have a priest and a pagan Koldun sorcerer in the same party, as one is obligated to kill the other or maybe save them. Alignment sort of does this already. It made whole party in danger with both, even though it would be a greater utility for minmaxing fights and problem-solving. In a game with a high death toll maybe make everyone's first character human and get to see other species in the world before picking them. You can use these tactics to reduce standard choices. Perhaps a popular church has better social clout than a dirty warlock or magical sex pest. I still like the idea the original Big 4 classes are the most common and organised in guilds or churchs.

Just a bunch of ramblings so thanks if you made it this far. 

Land of Eem arrived and its like the muppets and dolmenwood had a baby.